The Hardest Thing
by tjmack
Summary: Spoilers up to 2x08; Man or Beast. When Vincent realizes the mistake he made and what it might have cost him. He wants to apologize to Catherine. However, Tori has other plans. Dangerous plans.


_**A/N:**_Alright, so I'm diving head first into a new fandom right now. I have been in love with this show since the first episode, and I think it gets better and better with every new episode. Recently I've decided to become brave and dive into writing for new fandoms starting with one-shots. This was the first one-shot that came to mind, though I have a few other's planned. This is set directly after the season 2 mid-season finale; Man or Beast. Please be gentle with any crit on characterization, since this is my first jump into this fandom. It usually takes me a one-shot or two before I find my footing with characterization. I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

Vincent stared at his reflection in the mirror. The white gauze off-set his darkly tanned skin. His fingers grazed against the still aching wound, as images from earlier that night came rushing back like a bad memory. He growled lightly, his eyes yellowing slightly, as his beastly side took over for a moment, the pain he had felt, not only when she had shot him, but when he had looked into her eyes. He had wanted to fight it. He couldn't control it. It was like Tori had this control over him, or at least made him lose control easier, and he didn't like it. She had a way of reasoning with him, a way of making him see things her way. He knew now though, that she was wrong. He wanted to fight this side of himself, not only for himself, but for Catherine as well.

He never wanted to see that level of hurt on her face again. Especially when he was the one that caused it. Vincent growled again, though this time it wasn't because his beastly side was taking over, no, this time it was because he was angry with himself. Because he wanted to hurt himself, to cause himself pain. He wanted to hurt as badly as Catherine did, because he had very nearly killed her father. Though he knew that Catherine was angry with Agent Reynolds for his involvement in what had happened with Vincent, he also knew that her father was the only family she had left.

Without a second thought, Vincent drew his fist backward and punched the mirror in front of him with as much force as he could muster. The glass shattered instantly, falling in pieces and dug deep into the skin of his knuckles. Some smaller shards of glass were stuck in Vincent's hand – his knuckles were bleeding heavily in places. The pain did nothing to relieve the anger or the guilt he felt at nearly killing Catherine's father.

"Vincent, are you okay?" Tori called from outside the door.

He growled again. He needed to get away from her. What he really needed was for her to understand that she couldn't be around him anymore. That he couldn't be around her anymore. Not after what she had caused him to do. That was the thing though, Tori was a loose canon, and Vincent was almost certain she wouldn't take the news very well. He also knew who she would blame for Vincent's change of heart.

"No." He said, before wrapping his hand in a towel. He'd dig the shards of glass from his knuckles after he made sure she was gone. He opened the door, and regretted the fact that he still hadn't put on a shirt. The way that Tori was staring at his bare chest made him slightly uncomfortable. "I need you to listen to me carefully, Tori."

Her attention switched to his face, which eased the tension in the air, if only slightly. "What's wrong? Oh God! Did you hurt yourself?" Tori asked, making a move to grab Vincent's wrapped hand.

"I'm fine. Listen to me, Tori. This is important." She looked at him once more, causing Vincent to pause to take a deep breath. "I need you to leave, and not just my place. I need you to leave the city. I need you to go. I don't care where. Just go. Please. You have some kind of control over me. I can't keep that side of myself under control with you around. Please understand what I'm saying..."

Tori moved forward, the look of concern replaced with a look of anger and disgust. "This isn't you talking, Vincent. This is _her_, and I know how to get her out of your head."

"NO!" Vincent roared, as Tori turned to leave. "If you lay a hand on Catherine, I will kill you. Don't make me do that, Tori. I don't want to have to hurt you."

Tori sent a condescending smirk in Vincent's direction. "I'd like to see you try." With that she disappeared from Vincent's boat house. He knew exactly where she was headed, and he needed to get there first. After everything he had done to Catherine, he needed to make sure that Tori didn't hurt her. It was the least he could do.

* * *

J.T sat down on his sofa, the television remote in his hand and his thumb made a move to turn the television on, his cell started to ring.

"Really? Just a moment's peace." J.T whispered as he stood up and grabbed his cell from his desktop. Checking the number, he sighed. He had heard all about what Vincent had done tonight, and while Vincent would always be J.T's best friend, he couldn't help but be a little pissed at what Vincent had pulled. "What, Vincent?"

"J.T, can you meet me at Cat's?" Vincent barked out, his voice sounding breathy, as he ran through the back streets of New York City.

"I can, but why? You do get that Cat's totally pissed at you, right?"

Vincent growled lightly before speaking, "Yes, J.T. Right now, I'd rather her be pissed at me and alive, than pissed at me and dead. I think Tori is going to do something. I need you to bring something to help subdue her."

J.T groaned, "Alright, I've got the tranq gun."

"Those don't work, J.T."

"I know, that's why I've gotten stronger tranq's. Look, just get to Cat's and keep Tori from killing her, I'm on my way."

"Thanks, J.T"

"Yeah, no problem."

As he hung up the phone, J.T eyed the pizza sitting on the coffee table in front of his sofa. "Just one day where nothing crazy happens. That's all I ask. Just a day."

* * *

Vincent climbed carefully through the open window in Catherine's bedroom and heard the distinct sound of a struggle. He was too late. Tori had beaten him to Cat's but that didn't mean that he couldn't still stop her. Vincent's boots pounded against Catherine's bedroom floor harshly as he ran toward the door and yanked it open.

"Tori, stop it!" his voice boomed, as he jogged down the hallway, trying to locate where the two of them were.

"She is holding you back, Vincent. She is stopping you from becoming who you are!" Tori growled out ferociously.

Vincent turned the corner into the kitchen and saw Tori clutching Catherine's neck tightly. "No! She is the person that has kept me from becoming _this_." Vincent paused, jestering at Tori. "Catherine has kept me from becoming a monster, and you made me lose sight of that. Now, let her go."

Tori's eyes darkened as her beastly side started to take over. "Or what, Vincent. Are you going to kill me like you did my father?"

Vincent looked at Catherine, who was clutching at her purplish throat. It took everything in him to not run toward her to see if she was alright. Before he could do that, he had to stop the threat. He had to make sure that Catherine was safe. With an apology in his eyes, he turned Tori and spoke, "If I have to, then yes. I will do whatever I have to do to make sure that Catherine is safe."

"I really wish you hadn't said that, Vincent. We could have been great together."

Vincent shook his head, "No. We would have destroyed ourselves together. I never wanted that. You did."

Tori growled loudly before making a backward lunge at Catherine. Without a second's thought or a moment's hesitation, Vincent leapt forward and grabbed a hold of Tori's head before throwing out of the kitchen.

"I didn't want it to end like this. You could have just left peacefully, like I asked you too."

"Never!" Tori growled before attacking Vincent.

The front door to Catherine's apartment opened, as J.T stepped in. He ran toward Catherine to check on her. "No, you have to stop this. You have to stop her. Vincent's hurt."

J.T looked up at his friend and shook his head. "He looks fine to me, Catherine."

"He's been shot, J.T. I shot him."

J.T's eyebrow raised, as his mouth bobbed open. "You shot him?"

"I had to, he was going to kill my father. That doesn't mean I want him dead. Now stop her!"

"Yeah, of course."

J.T stood up and aimed his tranq gun. There wasn't an open shot and he was afraid he'd hit Vincent. A guttural moan sounded from the two fighting beasts, as Tori stood tall. A wicked smile crossed her lips, before turning her attention to both J.T and Catherine.

"Now that he's out of the way. I'll just take care of the two of you and call it a day."

"Tori – stop – this." Vincent gasped from the floor. A puddle of blood formed under his newly reopened gunshot wound.

"No, Vincent. Don't worry. You'll see. Once these two are out of your life, we can live how we see fit."

Vincent made a move to get up, but quickly collapsed back to the floor. "J.T, now!" Vincent managed to yell out.

J.T's hand shook, with Tori stared him down. Catherine groaned, before taking the tranq gun from J.T's hand and shooting Tori in the neck. "Geez!" Catherine grumbled, before moving toward Vincent. "Are you okay?"

Vincent groaned as he made a move to sit up. "I'll be fine. I think. I just – I don't heal like I used too."

Catherine ran her hand over Vincent's cheek, before lifting up his shirt. "God, this looks bad. J.T run into the bathroom, I have a first aid kit in there. I'm going to call Gabe."

As Catherine made a move to stand up, Vincent caught her wrist. "Wait. I have to tell you something."

"It can wait. Making sure you're alive is priority number one, Vincent."

His eyes drifted close when a sharp pain ripped through his stomach. His hand clutched at Catherine's wrist, but he tried hard to not hurt her. "I have to say this now – just in case."

Catherine shook her head, as tears welled in her eyes. "Don't say that."

"Catherine, please, just listen to me. I am so sorry about earlier. I – had no control over what I was doing. When you begged me to stop, it was all I wanted to do. I hated to see the pain – the hurt on your face and I hated it even more knowing that I caused it. I hope one day you can forgive me."

Catherine sighed, before pressing a kiss to the side of Vincent's head. "I will say it now because it's the truth. I forgive you, Vincent. I won't forget what you did, and it still hurts that you did it but I forgive you."

As the words left her mouth, Vincent's eyes drifted closed again. This time, they didn't open back up.

* * *

It felt like an eternity that Catherine sat there, holding Vincent's hand and waited for his eyes to open. Gabe had arrived not more than twenty minutes after Catherine called him and while she waited, J.T and herself cleaned Vincent's wound and kept the bleeding to a minimal. Gabe and J.T wrapped Vincent's stomach, while Catherine and Tess looked through Catherine's medicine cabinet for something, anything that would help keep Vincent from getting an infection. That had been nearly two hours ago, and Catherine's patience for waiting was wearing thin.

"He'll pull through." J.T's voice broke through Catherine's inner musing, causing her head to snap in his direction.

"How do you know that?"

J.T smiled softly, and shrugged. "I've seen him bounce back from far worse than this."

"J.T, he doesn't have that same ability to heal. When Agent Reynolds..." she paused, as a couple of tears rolled down her cheek, "When my father altered Vincent's DNA again – when he stole his memories from him, he made it so that Vincent couldn't heal properly from injuries. I don't know, maybe he was hoping that Vincent would just injure himself bad enough that he wouldn't have to kill him. Whatever the reasoning for it, he doesn't have the power heal himself. We can't take him to the hospital, not with a gunshot wound. It would cause too many questions."

J.T sighed, "Yeah, alright. Everything you said is true, Catherine, but even Gabe said that Vincent should pull through. He might not have the full capacity to heal himself, but his body does still have regenerative abilities. We just have to keep an eye on him until he's back to himself."

Catherine's eyes closed, as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "What if he's never fully back to himself?"

J.T chuckled mirthlessly, "We're not talking about the gunshot wound now, are we?" He waited, but Catherine never answered him. "He's starting to get his memories back."

"He also has less self-control now too. He's dangerous, J.T."

"So, what, Catherine, are you going to kill him? Are you going to finish what you tried to do earlier? If so, why try so hard to save him?"

Catherine caught a sob in her throat, before speaking. "No, I'm not going to kill him. I just..."

"She wants the old me back." Vincent whispered softly, his voice breaking slightly over the words. "I am sorry about tonight, Catherine. I am sorry that your father did this to me. I wish I could change it, I wish I could fix it. I wish I could be the man you remember."

Catherine leaned forward, "I don't need you to be that man. I just need you to try, Vincent. I love you so much that it hurts, but I cannot be with you if you can't control that other side of you. I need to know that you want to try. I need to know that you want to keep your humanity, because without it, you will lose me."

Vincent nodded his head, "I do want that. I want to get my old life back. I want to be the man that was good enough for you. I lost sight of that and because of that, I hurt you. I never want to be the cause of pain in your life ever again."

Catherine sighed softly, before leaning down and pressing her lips to Vincent's. "Well, step one in that plan is to not die."


End file.
